Received banknote processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A received banknote processing apparatus having no temporary reserving section has a failure recovery processing unit. The failure recovery processing unit securely recovers the number of banknotes of an accepted transaction together with the determination of the fitness of the banknotes of the accepted transaction in failure recovery processing that is performed when a failure, such as a jam, occurs.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a received banknote processingapparatus for discriminating the denominations and the damaged state ofthe banknotes of each money receiving transaction and counting thenumber of the banknotes, as well as accommodating them to stackers(accommodation section), according to the discriminated denominationsand the ranks of degree of the damaged state. More specifically, thepresent invention relates to a received banknote processing apparatuscapable of securely classifying the data of the transaction whoseprocessing is accepted and the data of the transaction whose processingis not accepted even if a failure, such as a jam, of the banknotesoccurs when banknote reception processing is performed to a plurality oftransactions regardless of whether the received banknote processingapparatus has a simple arrangement without a temporary reserving sectionfor temporary reserving the banknotes especially before accommodatingthem.

BACKGROUND ART

Most of received banknote processing apparatuses ordinarily employ atemporary reserving section so that banknotes are accommodated in anaccommodation section after it is confirmed that the transaction of thebanknotes is accepted by temporarily reserving them in the temporaryreserving section. There is an apparatus disclosed in, for example, U.S.Pat. No. 4,747,492 of the applicant, as a received banknote processingapparatus including the temporary reserving section. The apparatusdisclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,492 includes stackers (S1 to S6)which accommodate banknotes after they are sorted according to thedenominations thereof and to the upper portions of which temporaryreserving sections (SH1 to SH6) are disposed.

A plurality of banknote receiving transactions are continuouslyprocessed by the above apparatus as described below.

First, when the received banknotes of an initial transaction aresupplied to a hopper, the denominations of the banknotes fed from thehopper are discriminated by a denomination discrimination section, andthe banknotes are transported to the temporary reserving sections (SH1to SH6) disposed to the upper portion of the stackers (S1 to S6) forrespective denominations according to denominations thereof. Then, thedetail of the received banknotes is checked against a result ofprocessing performed by the apparatus, and when they agree with eachother, the banknotes are released from the temporary reserving sections(SH1 to SH6) and sequentially accommodated in the stackers (S1 to S6) bydepressing a banknote reception accepting button. Second and subsequentbanknote receiving transactions are also processed likewise, and even ifa failure such as a jam and the like occurs while, for example, a secondbanknote receiving transaction is being performed, since only thebanknotes of the second transaction exist in the temporary reservingsections (SH1 to SH6), they are not mixed with the banknotes of theinitial transaction.

Accordingly, as a failure recovery processing of the apparatus in whicha failure occurs, it is sufficient to supply the banknotes reserved inthe temporary reserving sections (SH1 to SH6), the banknotes remainingin the hopper, and the banknotes located on a transport path in whichthe jam occurs to the hopper again together so that they are processed.

In contrast, there are available many received banknote processingapparatuses which have a simple structure without temporary reservingsections to make the cost of the apparatus less expensive. In thereceived banknote processing apparatus having no such temporaryreserving sections, when a plurality of banknote receiving transactionsare continuously processed and a failure, such as a jam or the like,occurs while a second or subsequent transaction is being processed,troublesome failure recovery processing occurs. When it is assumed, forexample, that a initial banknote receiving transaction is normallyprocessed, and a failure, such as a jam or the like, occurs while asecond banknote receiving transaction is being performed, the banknotesof the first accepted transaction, and the banknotes of the secondtransaction which is not accepted and being processed, are mixedlyaccommodated in the state of accommodating the banknotes in therespective stackers. To perform processing for recovering from the abovefailure, it is necessary to take out all of the mixed banknotes from thestackers, as well as to gather the banknotes remaining in the hopper andthe banknotes located on the transport path in which the jam occurred,to have the operator manually count the banknotes, and to separate thebanknotes of the first accepted transaction.

Accordingly, when a failure occurs in the received banknote processingapparatus without the temporary reserving sections, a recovery job ofthe apparatus is very troublesome, and there is a possibility thatbanknotes are erroneously processed. As described above, it is effectiveto provide the received banknote processing apparatus with the temporaryreserving sections to promptly and accurately recover from a failureoccurring in the apparatus when a plurality of banknote receivingtransactions are continuously processed. However, provision of thetemporary reserving sections is disadvantageous in that the mechanism ofthe apparatus becomes complex, as well as increasing the cost thereof.

Further, the received banknote processing apparatus which is notprovided with the temporary reserving sections to reduce cost has aproblem in that recovery processing when a failure, such as a jam or thelike, occurs is very troublesome and there is a possibility thatbanknotes are erroneously processed.

To overcome the above problems, the applicant already proposed areceived banknote processing apparatus arranged simply by providing notemporary reserving section to reduce cost and to make it unnecessary tomanually separate the banknotes of an accepted transaction even if afailure, such as a jam or the like, occurs (refer to Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 2002-74464 A).

On the other hand, users of received banknote processing apparatuseshave needs for ranking banknotes which are subjected to receptionprocessing according to a damaged state and accommodating the banknotesafter they are sorted to banknotes suitable for reuse (hereinafter,called “usable banknote”) and banknotes unsuitable for reuse(hereinafter, called “damaged banknote”).

There is already proposed a damaged banknote extraction apparatus and acash handling apparatus including the damaged banknote extractionapparatus which meet these needs (refer to Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2003-242549 A). However, even if these apparatuses areused, a result of the determination lacks reproducibility in thevicinity of the threshold value of criterion of a fitness determination.That is, it is assumed that a plurality of banknote receivingtransactions are continuously processed, and a failure, such as a jam orthe like, occurs while a second or subsequent banknote receptiontransaction is being performed. In this case, when, for example, aninitial banknote receiving transaction is normally processed and thefailure, such as the jam or the like, occurs while the second banknotereception transaction is being processed, the banknotes of the firstaccepted transaction and the banknotes of the second transaction, whichhave not been accepted and are being processed, are mixedly accommodatedin the respective stackers. To cope with the above problem, all of thebanknotes located in the respective stackers are collected and placed onthe hopper again, the denominations and the fitness of the banknotes aredetermined again, only the accepted banknotes of the initial transactionare accommodated in the respective stackers, and the other banknotes aretransported to a reject section. However, since the determination offitness lacks the reproducibility described above, there is apossibility that a result of the determination is different from aprevious result of the determination, from which a problem arises inthat processing is finished regardless of whether or not that theaccepted number of the banknotes of the initial transaction is reached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

An object of the present invention, which was made in view of theproblems described above, is to provide a received banknote processingapparatus which can securely recover the accepted number of banknotes ofan accepted transaction including the fitness determination in failurerecovery processing performed when a failure, such as a jam or the like,occurs in a received banknote processing apparatus that is not providedwith a temporary reserving section.

Means for Solving the Problem

The present invention relates to a received banknote processingapparatus for performing banknote reception processing by sequentiallyseparating and feeding one by one the banknotes of each banknotereceiving transaction placed on a hopper. A received banknote processingapparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention forachieving the above object includes a denomination discrimination meansfor discriminating the denominations of the banknotes, a fitnessdetermination means for determining whether the banknotes are usablebanknotes or damaged banknotes, a count means for counting the number ofthe banknotes having the respective discriminated denominations anddetermined fitness, a memory means for storing the counted number of thebanknotes having the respective discriminated denominations, the countednumber of the banknotes that are determined as the usable banknotes, andthe counted number of the banknotes that are determined as the damagedbanknotes, a plurality of stackers for accommodating the countedbanknotes having the respective denominations, the usable banknotes, andthe damaged banknotes of the counted banknotes, a failure detectionmeans for detecting the occurrence of a failure while the banknotereception processing is being performed, an information means forinforming that the failure is detected by the failure detection means, afailure recovery processing means for recovering the numbers ofaccommodation of banknotes of the stackers to the numbers accepted untilthe banknote reception processing before the present banknote receptionprocessing, during which the failure occurred, and a recovery modeswitching means for starting the failure recovery processing means,wherein when the occurrence of the failure is informed by theinformation means while the banknotes of second and subsequent banknotereceiving transactions are being subjected to the banknote receptionprocessing, all the banknotes accommodated in the respective stackersare actually placed on the hopper again by an operator while keeping thesequence in which the banknotes are stacked, and the failure recoveryprocessing means is started by operating the recovery mode switchingmeans, the failure recovery processing means sequentially separates andfeeds one by one all the banknotes placed on the hopper again,discriminates the denominations of the banknotes, determines fitness,accommodates the banknotes discriminated by denomination and determinedby fitness in the original stackers respectively, and counts the numberof the accommodated banknotes, and when the number of the banknotesaccommodated in any one of the stackers reaches the accepted number ofthe banknotes accommodated in the stacker which is stored to the memorymeans, the banknotes having the same denomination as that of thebanknotes that are accommodated in the stacker and the number of whichreaches the accepted number, are accommodated in another stackerallocated to the denomination regardless of the result of the fitnessdetermination, and when the number of the banknotes accommodated in theother stacker reaches the accepted number of the other stacker stored tothe memory means, the remaining banknotes having the same denominationas the above denomination are accommodated in a stacker allocated tousable banknotes having the denomination and in a stacker allocated todamaged banknotes having the denomination according to the result of thefitness determination, and failure recovery processing is performed byrepeating the above processing for all of the denominations.

Further, a received banknote processing apparatus according to a secondembodiment of the present invention for achieving the above objectincludes a denomination discrimination means for discriminating thedenominations of the banknotes, a fitness determination means fordetermining whether the banknotes are usable banknotes or damagedbanknotes, a count means for counting the number of the banknotes havingthe respective discriminated denominations, the number of the banknoteswhich are determined as the usable banknotes, and the number of thebanknotes which are determined as the damaged banknotes, a memory meansfor storing the counted number of the banknotes having the respectivediscriminated denominations, the counted number of the banknotes whichare determined as the usable banknotes, and the counted number of thebanknotes which are determined as the damaged banknotes, a plurality ofusable banknote stackers disposed for respective denominations, only onedamaged banknote stacker for accommodating only damaged banknotesregardless of the denominations thereof, a reject stacker foraccommodating the banknotes which are rejected under a predeterminedcondition, failure detection means for detecting the occurrence of afailure while the banknote reception processing is being performed, aninformation means for informing that the failure is detected by thefailure detection means, a failure recovery processing means forrecovering the numbers of banknotes accommodated in the usable banknotestackers and the damaged banknote stackers to the accepted numbers justbefore the failure occurs, and a recovery mode switching means forstarting up the failure recovery processing means, wherein when theoccurrence of the failure is informed by the information means while thebanknotes of second and subsequent banknote receiving transactions arebeing subjected to the banknote reception processing, all the banknotesaccommodated in the usable banknote stackers actually are collectivelyplaced on the hopper again by an operator, and when the failure recoveryprocessing means is started up by operating the recovery mode switchingmeans, the failure recovery processing means sequentially separates andfeeds one by one all the banknotes placed on the hopper again,discriminates the denominations of the banknotes, and determinesfitness, accommodates the banknotes determined the denominations in theusable banknote stackers of the respective denominations as the usablebanknotes regardless of the result of the fitness determination, andcounts the number of the accommodated banknotes, when the number of thebanknotes accommodated in the usable banknote stacker of any one of thedenominations reaches the accepted number of the banknotes accommodatedin the usable banknote stacker which is stored to the memory means, thefailure recovery processing means performs first processing to all thebanknotes placed again to accommodate the banknotes having the samedenomination as the denomination of the banknotes whose number reachesthe accepted number in the reject stacker regardless of the result ofthe fitness determination, when all the banknotes accommodated in thedamaged banknote stacker are collectively placed again on the hopper bythe operator subsequent to the first processing, the failure recoveryprocessing means sequentially separates and feeds one by one all thebanknotes placed on the hopper again, discriminates the denominations ofthe banknotes, determines the fitness, accommodates the banknotesdetermined by denominations in the damaged banknote stacker as thedamaged banknotes regardless of the result of the fitness determination,and counts the number of the accommodated banknotes of the respectivedenominations, and when the number of the banknotes accommodated in thedamaged banknote stacker reaches the accepted numbers, which are storedto the memory, of the damaged banknotes of the respective denominationsaccommodated in the damaged banknote stacker, the failure recoveryprocessing means performs second processing to accommodate the banknoteshaving the same denomination as the denomination of the banknotes whosenumber reaches the accepted number in the reject stacker regardless ofthe result of the fitness determination to thereby perform failurerecovery processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an appearance view showing an embodiment of a receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing an embodiment of a display/operation section;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional structure view showing an embodiment of thereceived banknote processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of internal arrangement ofthe received banknote processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of banknote reception processing ofthe received banknote processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of failure recoveryprocessing according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing another embodiment (first processing) ofthe failure recovery processing according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing still another embodiment (secondprocessing) of the failure recovery processing according to the presentinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A received banknote processing apparatus of the present invention willbe specifically explained below referring to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an appearance of an embodiment of the received banknoteprocessing apparatus 10 of the present invention. A hopper 11, on whichbanknotes to be subjected to banknote reception processing are placed,is disposed to the upper portion of a main body, and a display/operationsection 20 is disposed on a front panel to display necessary data and toinput and instruct processing and the like. Further, a plurality ofstackers 12 (12 a to 12 c) are partitioned and disposed to the lowerportion of the main body to accommodate the banknotes whosedenominations are discriminated according to the denominations thereof,and a reject stacker 13 is disposed to an end of the upper portion ofthe main body to discharge and stack rejected banknotes. Stacker LEDs 17(17 a to 17 c) are disposed above the stackers 12 a to 12 c incorrespondence thereto to display the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the respective stackers 12 a to 12 c and can becontinuously or intermittently lit. Further, the stackers 12 have astructure for permitting the banknotes accommodated therein to beremoved by hand. Note that although only three stackers are displayed inthe example, it is possible to increase the number of the stackers bycoupling additional stackers with them.

FIG. 2 shows the display/operation section 20 in detail. Thedisplay/operation section 20 is composed of a liquid crystal displaysection 21 for displaying a time, an error code, and the like, an LEDdisplay section 22 composed of an LED for displaying discriminateddenominations and count data, ten-keys 23 for inputting numeral data,and operation keys 24 for instructing manipulation. The operation keys24 include a “START/STOP” key 241 for instructing the starting andstopping of an operation, a “CLEAR” key 242 for instructing the clearingof data, an “ACCEPT” key 243 for instructing the accepting of an input,a “MODE” key 244 for instructing the selection of switching to a failurerecovery processing mode, and the like.

Further, FIG. 3 shows a sectional structure of the received banknoteprocessing apparatus 10 when it is viewed from a side surface thereof. Adenomination discrimination means 30, a fitness determination means 31,and a count means 32 are disposed to a transport path 18 between thehopper 11 and the reject stacker 13. A diverter plate 14 is disposed tothe transport path 18 of the reject stacker 13 to divert a banknotebeing transported to a transport path 18A disposed above the stackers 12and to a transport path 18B to the reject stacker 13. Diverter plates 15(15 a and 15 b) are disposed to the transport path 18A above thestackers 12 in correspondence to the respective stackers 12 to dischargebanknotes downward and to divert and stack them to and on the respectivestackers 12. Vane wheels 16 (16 a to 16 c) are disposed to the stackers12 to align and stack the banknotes discharged from the transport path18A, and various types of sensors are disposed to the transport paths18, 18A, and 18B to optically detect that banknotes pass therethrough.Note that although only the three stackers are displayed in the exampleof FIG. 3, the number of them can be increased by coupling additionalstackers therewith.

FIG. 4 shows an internal arrangement of the received banknote processingapparatus 10, a memory means 41 is connected to a controller 40 composedof a CPU and the like to control the received banknote processingapparatus 10 in its entirety, and the display/operation section 20, thedenomination discrimination means 30, the fitness determination means31, and the count means 32 are also connected to the controller 40.Further, a failure recovery processing means 42 and an information means43 are also connected to the controller 40, and a failure detectionmeans 44 is also connected thereto to detect a failure such as a jam andthe like. In addition to the above, a feed/transport means 18 and therespective stackers 12, 13 are also controlled by the controller 40.

The fitness determination means refers to a means for determiningwhether a banknote can be reused (usable banknote) or cannot be reused(damaged banknote) according to a damaged state of it, and a meansdisclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2003-242549 can be used.

The failure detection means 44 detects the occurrence of a failure whilea banknote receiving transaction is being performed, and when thefailure detection means 44 detects the occurrence of the failure, itoperates the information means 43 through the controller 40. Theinformation means 43 sounds a buzzer (not shown), displays an alarm onthe liquid crystal display section 21 and the LED display section 22 ofthe display/operation section 20 so that it can be visually observed, orblinks the number displays of the stacker LEDs 17. Further, thecontroller 40 controls the denomination discrimination means 30, thefitness determination means 31, and the count means 32, as well asdiscriminates the denominations of banknotes, determines fitness, andcounts the number of the banknotes. Further, the controller 40 controlsthe various types of sensors and processes the signals therefrom andfurther controls the diverter plates 14 and 15 and the vane wheels 16.The memory means 41 stores the data such as the denominations of thebanknotes of an accepted banknote receiving transaction, a result offitness determination, the number of the banknotes and the like.

An operation of ordinary banknote reception processing in the abovearrangement will be explained referring to a flowchart of FIG. 5.

First, when the banknotes of a banknote receiving transaction to beprocessed initially are set to (placed on) the hopper 11 (Step S1) andthe “START/STOP” key 241 of the display/operation section 20 isdepressed (Step S2), the banknotes placed on the hopper 11 are separatedone by one and fed inward of the apparatus 10 along the transport path18, transported to the denomination discrimination means 30, the fitnessdetermination means 31, and the count means 32, subjected to banknotedenomination discrimination processing, fitness determinationprocessing, and count processing, and accommodated in the respectivestackers (Step S3). When a series of the banknote reception processingis finished normally, it is displayed on the LED display section 22(Step S4), and an operator, who views it, depresses the “ACCEPT” key 243of the display/operation section 20 (Step S5), thereby the processing ofthe initial transaction is finished (Step S6). Note that before theoperator depresses the “ACCEPT” key 243, he or she determines whether ornot the banknote reception processing is normally performed by checkingthe displays of the display/operation section 20 and the stacker LED 17against a slip showing the details of the banknote receivingtransaction. When it is determined that the banknote receptionprocessing is normally performed, the operator depresses the “ACCEPT”key 243, thereby count data is accepted and stored to the memory means41.

Likewise, banknotes to be processed next are set to (placed on) thehopper 11 (Step S7). At the time, the banknotes received in the previoustransaction (first transaction) remain accommodated in the stackers 12.When the operator depresses “the START/STOP” key 241 of thedisplay/operation section 20 (Step S8), the banknotes placed on thehopper 11 are transported to the denomination discrimination means 30,the fitness determination means 31, and the count means 32 and subjectedto the banknote denomination discrimination processing, the fitnessdetermination processing, and the count processing (Step S9). Next,whether or not the banknote denomination discrimination processing andthe count processing are normally performed are determined by checkingthe result of the processing against a slip showing the details of thesecond transaction, and when the processing is normally performed, thesecond transaction is finished (Step S10), and count data is accepted bydepressing the “ACCEPT” key 243 (Step S11). When there is a nexttransaction, the process returns to the Step S7 and processes thetransaction, whereas when there is no next transaction, the process isfinished. In contrast, when a failure such as a jam and the like occurswhile the banknotes are being transported, since the apparatus issues analarm and is automatically stopped, the operator switches an operationmode to a failure recovery mode in the display/operation section 20(Step S12), and starts up the failure recovery processing means. It ispreferable to previously set the failure recovery mode to the “MODE” keyof the display/operation section.

Next, failure recovery processing is performed (Step S13). When arecovery is successful, it is determined whether the process is to beshifted to the processing of the transaction in which the failure occursor to the processing of the transaction next to the above transaction,and when the process is to be shifted thereto, the process returns tothe Step S7 and repeats the above operation. Note that a procedure ofthe failure recovery processing at the Step S13 is as shown in FIGS. 6to 8.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of failure recovery processing according to afirst invention (Step S13) in detail, which will be explained in detailreferring to the drawings.

When a failure such as a jam and the like occurs, it is detected by ajam detection sensor as the failure detection means 44 and informed tothe controller 40. The controller 40 sounds the buzzer as theinformation means 43 to inform the operator of the occurrence of thefailure, as well as displays an error code as an alarm output to theliquid crystal display section 21.

When the operator is informed of the occurrence of the jam and the likeas the failure and depresses the “MODE” key 244 of the display/operationsection 20 (selects a recovery mode 1) as described above, the acceptednumber displayed to the stacker LED corresponding to the stacker, inwhich the banknotes whose reception is accepted exist, is changed from acontinuously lit state up to that time to a blinking state. The displayis switched by the controller 40.

The operator, who is informed of the occurrence of the failure throughthe buzzer sound and the like, removes the banknotes remaining in thetransport paths 18, 18A due to the jam or the like. The operator alsoremoves the banknotes remaining in the hopper without being processedand overlaps all the banknotes, which are accommodated in a stacker 12whose LED is blinking, in the sequence in which they are stacked withoutdisturbing the sequence and places them on the hopper 11 again (StepS21). Then, the operator depresses the “START/STOP” key 241 of thedisplay/operation section 20 (Step S22), feeds the banknotes to thetransport path 18 (Step S23), and discriminates the denominations of thebanknotes and determines whether the banknotes are usable or damaged(Step S24).

If the banknotes are usable banknotes, they are transported to andaccommodated in a usable banknote stacker of the denomination (StepS25). When the banknotes are accommodated therein, their number iscounted to the number of the banknotes accommodated in the stacker (StepS26). Actually, the number obtained by subtracting 1 from the acceptednumber displayed by the blinking LED 17 of the stacker is displayed.When it is determined at the Step S24 that the banknotes are damagedbanknotes, they are accommodated in a damaged banknote stacker of thedenomination likewise (Step S27) and counted to the number of thebanknotes accommodated in the stacker (Step S28). When the processing isrepeated and a usable banknote stacker of any denomination reaches anaccepted number faster than the damaged banknote stacker, the display ofthe LED 17 of the usable banknote stacker displays “0” and is changedfrom a blinking display to a lit display. When the banknotes, which arethe fitness determination processing, are usable banknotes of thedenomination, the determination of the banknotes are changed to damagedbanknotes (Step S29), the banknotes are accommodated in a damagedbanknote stacker of the denomination (Step S27), and the number of thebanknotes is added to the number of the banknotes accommodated in thestacker (Step S28). Further, when the banknotes subjected to thedetermination processing are damaged banknotes of the denomination, theyare accommodated in the damaged banknote stacker of the denomination asthey are (Step S27), and the number of the banknotes are added to thenumber of the banknotes accommodated in the stacker (Step S28). When thenumber of the banknotes accommodated in the usable banknote stacker ofthe denomination and the number of the banknotes accommodated in thedamaged banknote stacker of the denomination reach the accepted numberstogether as described above, the banknotes of the denomination processedthereafter are accommodated in the stackers corresponding theretoaccording to a result of determination performed at the Step S24 todetermine fitness, and the numbers of the banknotes are counted to thenumbers of the banknotes accommodated in the stackers (Step S26 or S28).At the time, the numerals displayed to the LEDs 17 of the stackers arethe number of the banknotes of the receiving transaction which wasprocessed when the failure occurred. When no banknote remains in thehopper by repeating the above processing, the processing is finished.

Note that after the processing is finished, the banknotes, which wereleft in the transport paths 18, 18A due to the jam and like and removedwhen the failure occurred, and the banknotes, which remained in thehopper without being processed and removed when the failure occurred,are placed on the hopper again and processed after the operation mode isreturned to an ordinary mode. Then, after the number of the banknotes iscounted to the number of the banknotes accommodated in the stacker whichis recovered from the failure, the operator depresses the “ACCEPT” key243 and accepts the count data. However, the banknotes which are notprocessed may be overlapped on all the banknotes accommodated in thestackers 12 and collectively processed at the Step 21.

Example of First Embodiment

A case will be explained in which the received banknote processingapparatus is installed in a cash vault (cash center) of a bank, cash istransported from branches A and B of the bank to the cash vault andsubjected to continuous banknote reception processing.

A slip, on which the details of the cash of each denomination arewritten, is attached to the cash transported from the branch A. When thecash (banknotes) are supplied to the hopper 11 of the received banknoteprocessing apparatus and a START/STOP key is depressed, the processingis started. The banknotes in the hopper 11 are sorted to the respectivestackers according to a previously set sort condition and accommodatedtherein. When the processing of the banknotes of the branch A isfinished, the details of the banknotes of each denomination aredisplayed on a display section of the received banknote processingapparatus. When the displayed contents agreed with the details writtenon the slip, an “ACCEPT” key is depressed and the count data isaccepted.

The received banknote processing apparatus of the present inventionincludes the fitness determination means, and the banknotes, whichpassed through the fitness determination means, are sorted to thebanknotes which can be reused (usable banknotes) and the banknotes whichcannot be reused (damaged banknotes) and gathered, respectively. Fitnessof banknote is mainly determined using optical characteristics. However,a banknote whose degree of damage is near to the threshold value of acriterion of the fitness determination is determined to be a usablebanknote or a damaged banknote depending on the subtle change of atransport state and the like of it, and thus, a result of determinationis not stable. That is, the reproducibility of the fitness determinationis not always high.

An example in which the fitness of a banknote of a particulardenomination is determined by three steps will be explained as theembodiment of the first invention.

The received banknote processing apparatus has seven stackers, and it isassumed that banknotes are allocated to the stackers under the followingconditions.

-   -   First stacker: $20 banknote in the best condition as a first        denomination (used for ATM)    -   Second stacker: $20 usable banknote in an ordinary condition as        a first denomination (used for payment from teller)    -   Third stacker: $20 damaged banknote as a first denomination (to        be collected by the central bank)    -   Fourth stacker: $10 banknote in the best condition as a second        denomination+usable banknote in an ordinary condition as a        second denomination (for reuse)    -   Fifth stacker: $10 damaged banknote as a second denomination (to        be collected by the central bank)    -   Sixth stacker: $1, $2and5$ mixed usable and damaged banknotes as        low value denominations    -   Seventh stacker: $50 and $100 mixed usable and damaged banknotes        as high value denominations

Next, the same processing is repeated to the banknotes transported fromthe bank branch B. A case in which a jam occurs while the processing isbeing performed will be explained.

When a transport jam as a failure of the apparatus occurs and isdetected by a jam detecting sensor, the apparatus sounds a buzzer toinform the operator of the occurrence of the failure.

The operator, who is informed of the failure of the apparatus by thebuzzer sound, removes the banknotes remaining in the hopper 11 and thebanknotes remaining on the transport path 18 and gathers themcollectively.

Next, the operator takes out all the banknotes in the respectivestackers, in which the banknotes of the branches A and B are mixed,gathers them collectively, and supplies them into the hopper. At thetime, the banknotes must be placed on the hopper without disturbing thesequence in which the banknotes are stacked on the stackers. Thereafter,when the START/STOP key is depressed, a failure recovery processing isstarted.

The failure recovery processing is performed as described below.

The denominations of the banknotes supplied to the hopper arediscriminated by a denomination discrimination means and whether theyare usable banknotes or damaged banknotes is determined by a fitnessdetermination means. Further, the number of the banknotes is counted bya count means, and the banknotes are supplied to the stackers dependingon the denominations thereof and on the fitness determination.

Since the apparatus stores the name of the branch A the banknotereception processing of which is accepted and the total number (acceptednumber) of the banknotes of the respective denominations thereof, thebanknotes are supplied to the stackers by the above operation until theaccepted number of the banknotes of the branch A is reached so that theaccepted number of the branch A is reproduced preferentially. At thetime, processing for inverting a result of the fitness determination maybe performed to secure the accepted number when a fitness is determined.

Specifically, it is assumed that the accepted banknotes of the branch Aare allocated to the stackers as shown in FIG. 1.

-   -   First stacker: $20 banknote in the best condition . . . 20 notes    -   Second stacker: $20 usable banknote in an ordinary condition . .        . 10 notes    -   Third stacker: $20 damaged banknote . . . 30 notes    -   Fourth stacker: $10 banknote in the best condition+usable        banknote in an ordinary state . . . 20 notes    -   Fifth stacker: $10 damaged banknote . . . 10 notes    -   Sixth stacker: $1, $2 and $5 mixed usable and damaged banknotes        . . . 30 notes    -   Seventh stacker: $50 and $100 mixed usable and damaged banknotes        . . . 20 notes

At the time, the respective stackers are sequentially filled with thebanknotes depending on the denominations thereof and the determinationof fitness, and when, for example, the banknotes in the first stackerreach 20 notes previously, even if there is a banknote which isdetermined as a $20 banknote in the best condition, processing forregarding it as a $20 usable banknote in an ordinary condition isperformed, and banknotes are preferentially accommodated in the secondstacker until the banknotes accommodated therein reach 10 notes. Notethat when the banknotes accommodated in the first stacker reaches theaccepted number, the banknotes accommodated in the third stacker alreadyreach the accepted number and when the banknotes accommodated in thesecond stacker do not reach the accepted number, even if a banknote fednext is determined a $20 damaged banknote, processing for regarding the$20 damaged banknote as a $20 usable banknote in an ordinary conditionis performed, and banknotes are preferentially accommodated in thesecond stacker until the banknotes accommodated therein reach 10 notes.

Likewise, when the number of the banknotes accommodated in the first andsecond stackers reach the accepted numbers previously and when thebanknotes accommodated in the third stacker do not reach 30 notes, evenif a banknote fed next is determined a $20 usable banknote, processingfor determining the $20 usable banknote as a $20 damaged banknote isperformed and the $20 banknote is accommodated in the third stacker sothat recovery processing is preferentially performed. Note that the sameprocessing is performed to the other denominations. After the banknotesof the branch A are recovered to the state before the failure occurs,the banknotes, which are fed and processed thereafter, are accommodatedin corresponding stackers according to a result of ordinarydetermination as the number of the banknotes of the branch B and countedas the banknotes of the branch B.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of first processing of the failure recoveryprocessing according to a second invention in detail, and the failurerecovery processing will be explained in detail referring to thedrawings. The failure recovery processing according to the secondinvention is divided into two processing stages, and FIG. 7 explains afirst processing stage, and FIG. 8 explains a second processing stage.

Note that the second embodiment is different from the first embodimentin that the damaged banknote stackers are independently installed to therespective denominations in the first embodiment, whereas only onedamaged banknote stacker is installed commonly to all the denominationsin the second embodiment.

The operator, who is informed of the occurrence of a failure by a buzzersound and the like, selects a recovery mode 2 (first processing stage)by the “MODE” key 244 of the display/operation section 20 and removesthe banknotes remaining on the transport paths 18, 18A due to a jam andthe like and the unprocessed banknotes remaining in the hopper (they areremoved from the banknotes to be processed). The operator takes out allthe banknotes accommodated in a usable banknote stacker 12 whose LED isblinked and places them on the hopper 11 again collectively (Step S41).Then, the “START/STOP” key 241 of the display/operation section 20 isdepressed (Step S42), the banknotes are fed to the transport path 18(Step S43), and the denominations of the banknotes are discriminated andfitness is determined (Step S44).

If the banknotes are usable banknotes, they are transported to andaccommodated in the usable banknote stackers of the denominations (StepS46). When they are accommodated in the stackers, the number of thebanknotes accommodated in each stacker is counted (Step S47). Actually,“1” is subtracted from the accepted number displayed by the blinking LED17 of the stacker and a resultant accepted number is displayed. When thebanknotes are determined as damaged banknotes at the Step S44, thebanknotes, which are determined as the damaged banknotes, are changed tousable banknotes (Step S45) and accommodated in the usable banknotestackers of the denominations (Step S46), and the number of thebanknotes in each stacker is counted to the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker (Step S47). When the banknotes in the usablebanknote stacker of any one of the denominations reaches the acceptednumber by repeating the processing (at the time, the LED 17 of theusable banknote stacker displays “0” and is changed from a blinkingdisplay to a lit display) and the denomination of the banknotes, whichare subjected to the denomination discrimination processing and thedetermination processing for determining the fitness, is the same asthat of the banknotes reached to the accepted number, the banknotes aretransported to the reject stacker 13 regardless of the result of thefitness determination (Step S48). Whereas, when the denomination of thebanknotes is different from that of the banknotes reached to theaccepted number and the banknotes are determined as usable banknote,they are transported to and accommodated in the usable banknote stackersof the denominations (Step S46). Whereas, when they are determined asdamaged banknotes, the banknotes, which are determined as the damagedbanknotes, are changed to usable banknotes (Step S45) and accommodatedin the usable banknote stackers of the denominations (Step S46), and thenumber of the banknotes in each stacker is counted to the number of thebanknotes accommodated in the stacker (Step S47).

Next, the second processing stage will be explained based on FIG. 8.

When the recovery of the usable banknote stackers of all thedenominations is finished as described above, the operator selects therecovery mode 2 (second processing stage) by the “MODE” key 244 of thedisplay/operation section 20, takes out all the banknotes accommodatedin the damaged banknote stacker in which the damaged banknotes of allthe denominations are accommodated, and collectively places them on thehopper 11 again (Step S51). The operator depresses the “START/STOP” key241 of the display/operation section 20 (Step S52), feeds the banknotesonto the transport path 18 (Step S53), and discriminates denominationsthereof and determines fitness (Step S54).

If the banknotes are the damaged banknotes, they are transported to andaccommodated in the damaged banknote stacker (Step S56). When thebanknotes are accommodated in the damaged banknote stacker, they arecounted to the number of the banknotes of the denomination accommodatedin the damaged stacker (Step S57). When the banknotes are determined asthe usable banknotes at the Step S54, the banknotes, which aredetermined as the usable banknotes, are changed to damaged banknotes(Step S55), accommodated in the damaged banknote stacker (Step S56), andcounted to the number of the banknotes of the denomination accommodatedin the damaged banknote stacker (Step S57).

When the processing is repeated and the banknotes of any one ofdenominations reaches the accepted number and the banknotes, which aresubjected to the denomination discrimination processing and thedetermination processing for determining the fitness, have the samedenomination as that of the banknotes, which reach the accepted number,they are transported to the reject stacker 13 regardless of the resultof the fitness determination (Step S58). Whereas, when the denominationof the banknotes is different from that of the banknotes reached to theaccepted number and the banknotes are determined as the damagedbanknotes, they are transported to and accommodated in the damagedbanknote stacker (Step S56). Whereas when the banknotes are determinedas the usable banknotes, the banknotes, which are determined as theusable banknotes, are changed to the damaged banknotes (Step S55),accommodated in the damaged banknote stacker (Step S56), and counted tothe number of the banknotes of the denomination accommodated in thedamaged banknote stacker (Step S57).

When the accepted numbers of the damaged banknotes of all thedenominations are reached as described above, the recovery of thedamaged banknote stacker is finished.

Example of Second Embodiment

In the example, banknotes are allocated to seven stackers as describedbelow.

First stacker: $1 usable banknote

Second stacker: 5$ usable banknote

Third stacker: $10 usable banknote

Fourth stacker: $20 usable banknote

Fifth stacker: $50 usable banknote

Sixth stacker: $100 usable banknote

Seventh stacker: denomination-mixed damaged banknotes

The second invention is characterized in that damaged banknotes areaccommodated collectively in the same stacker regardless of thedenominations thereof.

In the embodiment, a recovery processing manipulation is divided intotwo processing stages. Initially, a first processing stage is performedto collect the banknotes in a first stacker to a sixth stacker and tosupply them to a hopper again, and a second processing stage isperformed to supply the damaged banknotes in a seventh stacker to thehopper again.

In the first processing state, when banknotes are determined as, forexample, $10 usable banknotes, they are accommodated in the thirdstacker as they are, whereas when they are determined as $10 damagedbanknotes, processing, which changes the banknotes, which are determinedas the $10 damaged banknote, to $10 usable banknote, is performed, andthe banknotes are accommodated in the third stacker. When the acceptednumber of banknotes accommodated in the third stacker is reached asdescribed above, all the $10 banknotes fed thereafter are transported tothe reject stacker 13 regardless of the result of the fitnessdetermination.

When the recovery of the first to sixth stackers is completed asdescribed above, the first processing stage is finished.

Next, the operator places the denomination-mixed damaged banknotescollected from the seventh stacker on the hopper 11 and performs thesecond processing stage.

The fed banknotes are subjected to the denomination discriminationprocessing and the fitness determination processing. However, thebanknotes are entirely transported to and accommodated in the seventhstacker as damaged banknotes until the accepted numbers of thedenominations thereof are reached regardless of a result of the fitnessdetermination, and the banknotes exceeding the accepted number aretransported to the reject stacker. When, for example, the acceptednumber of $10 damaged banknotes is 10 notes, the initial 10 notes of the$10 banknotes are entirely transported to the seventh stacker as damagedbanknotes regardless of a result of the fitness determination, and the$10 banknotes fed thereafter are entirely transported to the rejectstacker regardless of a result of the fitness determination. Theprocessing is finished when the accepted numbers of all thedenominations are reached and no banknote remains in the hopper 11.

Note that although the denominations of the banknotes are set to the sixtypes in the example, the number of the denominations may be arbitrarilyset, and the stackers may be provided according to the number of thedenominations.

1. A received banknote processing apparatus for performing banknotereception processing by sequentially separating and feeding one by onebanknotes of each banknote receiving transaction which are placed on ahopper, the received banknote processing apparatus comprising: adenomination discrimination means for discriminating a denomination ofeach of the banknotes; a fitness determination means for determiningwhether each of the banknotes is a usable banknote or a damaged banknoteas a fitness of the banknotes; a count means for counting a number ofthe banknotes having the respective discriminated denominations, anumber of the banknotes which are determined as usable banknotes, and anumber of the banknotes which are determined as damaged banknotes; amemory means for storing the counted number of the banknotes having therespective discriminated denominations, the counted number of thebanknotes which are determined as usable banknotes, and the countednumber of the banknotes which are determined as damaged banknotes; aplurality of stackers for accommodating the banknotes having therespective denominations, the usable banknotes, and the damagedbanknotes of the counted banknotes; a failure detection means fordetecting an occurrence of a failure while the banknote receptionprocessing is being performed; an information means for informing thatthe occurrence of the failure is detected by the failure detectionmeans; a failure recovery processing means for recovering numbers ofaccommodation of banknotes of the stackers to respective numbers ofaccommodation accepted in the stackers at an end of a last transactionbefore the failure occurred; and a recovery mode switching means forstarting the failure recovery processing means, wherein, when theoccurrence of the failure is informed by the information means whilebanknotes of a second or subsequent banknote receiving transaction arebeing subjected to the banknote reception processing, the recovery modeswitching means starts the failure recovery processing means, thefailure recovery processing means, for each denomination, causes thereceived banknote processing apparatus to sequentially separate and feedone by one all the banknotes placed in sequence from the stackers on thehopper again, causes the denomination discrimination means todiscriminate the denominations of the banknotes, causes the fitnessdetermination means to determines the fitness of the banknotes, causesthe stackers to accommodate the banknotes being discriminated bydenomination and being determined by fitness, and causes the countsmeans to count the number of the accommodated banknotes, and wherein,when the number of the banknotes being accommodated in any one of thestackers reaches the corresponding counted number of the banknotes beingaccommodated in the stacker which is stored to the memory means, thefailure recovery processing means accommodates the banknotes having thesame denomination as the banknotes accommodated in the one stacker inanother stacker being allocated to the denomination regardless of aresult of the fitness determination; when the number of the banknotesbeing accommodated in the another stacker reaches the correspondingcounted number of the another stacker which is stored to the memorymeans, the failure recovery processing means subsequently accommodatesany remaining banknotes having the same denomination in the stackers forthe usable banknotes and the damaged banknotes having the denominationaccording to the fitness determination; and failure recovery processingis performed by repeating the above processing to all of thedenominations.
 2. A received banknote processing apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the plurality of stackers includes three stackers whichare assigned independently of denomination according to three stagesfitness degree.
 3. A received banknote processing apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the plurality of stackers includes three stackers, afirst of the stackers being assigned to a usable banknote having aparticular denomination, a second of the stackers being assigned to adamaged banknote having the particular denomination, and a third of thestackers being assigned to a mix of usable and damaged banknotes havingdenominations other than the particular denomination.
 4. A receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of stackers includes seven stackers, three of the stackersbeing assigned respectively to banknotes which have a first denominationaccording to the three stages of fitness degree, a fourth of thestackers being assigned to a usable banknote having a seconddenomination, a fifth of the stackers being assigned to a damagedbanknote having the second denomination, a sixth of the stackers beingassigned to a mix of usable and damaged banknotes having a low-valuedomination excluding the first and second denominations, and a seventhof the stackers being assigned to a mix of usable and damaged banknoteshaving a high-value domination excluding the first and seconddenominations.
 5. A received banknote processing apparatus forperforming banknote reception processing by sequentially separating andfeeding one by one banknotes of each banknote receiving transactionwhich are placed on a hopper, the received banknote processing apparatuscomprising: a denomination discrimination means for discriminating adenominations of each of the banknotes; a fitness determination meansfor determining whether each of the banknotes is a usable banknote or adamaged banknote as a fitness of the banknotes; a count means forcounting a number of the banknotes having the respective discriminateddenominations, a number of the banknotes which are determined as usablebanknotes, and a number of the banknotes which are determined as damagedbanknotes; a memory means for storing the counted number of thebanknotes having the respective discriminated denominations, the countednumber of the banknotes which are determined as the usable banknotes,and the counted number of the banknotes which are determined as damagedbanknotes; a plurality of usable banknote stackers disposed forrespective denominations; single damaged banknote stacker foraccommodating only damaged banknotes of all denominations; a rejectstacker for accommodating banknotes which are rejected under apredetermined condition; a failure detection means for detecting anoccurrence of a failure while the banknote reception processing is beingperformed; an information means for informing that the occurrence of thefailure is detected by the failure detection means; a failure recoveryprocessing means for recovering numbers of banknotes accommodated in theusable banknote stackers and the damaged banknote stacker to respectivenumbers of accommodation accepted in the stackers at an end of a lasttransaction before the failure occurred; and a recovery mode switchingmeans for starting the failure recovery processing means; wherein, whenthe occurrence of the failure is informed by the information means whilethe banknotes of a second or subsequent banknote receiving transactionare being subjected to the banknote reception processing, the recoverymode switching means starts the failure recovery processing means, thefailure recovery processing means, for each denomination causes thereceived banknote processing apparatus to sequentially separate and feedone by one all the banknotes placed in sequence from the usable banknotestackers on the hopper again, causes the denomination means todiscriminate the denominations of the banknotes, causes the fitnessdetermination means to determine the fitness of the banknotes, causesthe usable banknote stackers to accommodate the banknotes beingdetermined by denominations according to the respective denominations asthe usable banknotes regardless of a result of the fitnessdetermination, and causes the count means to counts the number of theaccommodated banknotes, wherein, when the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the usable banknote stacker of any one of thedenominations reaches the corresponding counted number of the banknotesaccommodated in the usable banknote stacker which is stored to thememory means, the failure recovery processing means performs firstprocessing to all the banknotes placed again causing the reject stackerto accommodate the banknotes having the same denomination as thebanknotes whose number reaches the corresponding counted numberregardless of a result of the fitness determination, wherein, after thefirst processing, when all the banknotes accommodated in the damagedbanknote stacker are collectively placed again on the hopper, thefailure recovery processing means causes the received banknoteprocessing apparatus to sequentially separate and feed one by one allthe banknotes placed on the hopper again, causes the denominationdiscrimination means to discriminate the denominations of the banknotes,causes the fitness determination means to determine the fitness of thebanknotes, causes the damaged banknote stacker to accommodate thebanknotes as the damaged banknotes regardless of a result of the fitnessdetermination, and cause the count means to count the number of theaccommodated banknotes of the respective denominations, and wherein,when the numbers of the banknotes accommodated in the damaged banknotestacker reaches the corresponding counted numbers, which are stored tothe memory means, of the damaged banknotes of the respectivedenominations accommodated in the damaged banknote stacker, the failurerecovery processing means performs second processing to accommodate thebanknotes having the same denomination as the denomination of thebanknotes whose number reaches the corresponding counted number in thereject stacker regardless of a result of the fitness determination tothereby perform failure recovery processing.
 6. The received banknoteprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising adisplay/operation section including a stacker LED for each stacker, thestacker LED for displaying the number of the banknotes accommodated inthe respective stacker, wherein when the failure recovery processingmeans is started, the counted number, which is stored to the memorymeans, of the banknotes displayed on the stacker LED is changed from acontinuously lit display to a blinking display and the counted number ofthe banknotes is displayed after subtracting the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker placed again on the hopper.
 7. The receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising adisplay/operation section including a stacker LED for each stacker, thestacker LED for displaying the number of the banknotes accommodated inthe respective stacker, wherein when the failure recovery processingmeans is started, the counted number, which is stored to the memorymeans, of the banknotes displayed on the stacker LED is changed from acontinuously lit display to a blinking display and the counted number ofthe banknotes is displayed after subtracting the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker placed again on the hopper.
 8. The receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising adisplay/operation section including a stacker LED for each stacker, thestacker LED for displaying the number of the banknotes accommodated inthe respective stacker, wherein when the failure recovery processingmeans is started, the counted number, which is stored to the memorymeans, of the banknotes displayed on the stacker LED is changed from acontinuously lit display to a blinking display and the counted number ofthe banknotes is displayed after subtracting the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker placed again on the hopper.
 9. The receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising adisplay/operation section including a stacker LED for each stacker, thestacker LED for displaying the number of the banknotes accommodated inthe respective stacker, wherein when the failure recovery processingmeans is started, the counted number, which is stored to the memorymeans, of the banknotes displayed on the stacker LED is changed from acontinuously lit display to a blinking display and the counted number ofthe banknotes is displayed after subtracting the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker placed again on the hopper.
 10. The receivedbanknote processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising adisplay/operation section including a stacker LED for each stacker, thestacker LED for displaying the number of the banknotes accommodated inthe respective stacker, wherein when the failure recovery processingmeans is started, the counted number, which is stored to the memorymeans, of the banknotes displayed on the stacker LED is changed from acontinuously lit display to a blinking display and the counted number ofthe banknotes is displayed after subtracting the number of the banknotesaccommodated in the stacker placed again on the hopper.